M’s losing skid reaches 10

OAKLAND, Calif. – In some ways, this latest miserable finish was something the Seattle Mariners had hoped for all along.

Throughout a 10-game losing streak, the Mariners have continued to regularly play their minor league call-ups in the hopes they could have an impact. That long-awaited contribution was finally felt Saturday in this 8-7 loss to the Oakland Athletics, and in a good way throughout much of the afternoon.

But ultimately, the biggest impact by a youngster, one the Mariners could have done without, came when infielder Luis Valbuena was called out by third-base umpire Bill Miller on what appeared to be a leadoff triple in the ninth. Instead, Valbuena’s second extra-base hit of the day went for naught and the Mariners continued their nose-dive into oblivion.

“I was very surprised because it wasn’t close,” said Valbuena, a Venezuelan who began the year at Double-A, was promoted to Triple-A and is being thrust into action here these final days so the team can figure out where it stands in the infield.

Valbuena had doubled to right earlier in the game, and manager Jim Riggleman had half-jokingly told him he had to get to third on a ball hit like that. There was no hesitation by Valbuena in the ninth as he rounded the bags on his ball laced to the right-field corner off A’s closer Brad Ziegler.

“I thought it was going to be a lot easier than it was,” said Mariners third-base coach Sam Perlozzo.

After the call by Miller, Perlozzo erupted at the umpire.

Riggleman charged over from the dugout, pulled his coach away, then voiced his displeasure before Miller ejected him.

The Mariners held leads but kept giving them up. Bryan LaHair clubbed a two-run homer to left off Oakland starter Kirk Saarloos in the second inning to snap a 27-inning scoreless drought by the Mariners – the second longest in team history.

But M’s starter Carlos Silva walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the inning and later surrendered a two-run single to Jeff Baisley. Then, after being staked to a 5-2 lead, Silva walked the leadoff batter in the fourth and saw Baisley knock in two more runs on another single.

Silva left after that with a recurrence of his back problems. Riggleman said Silva had complained of his back problems flaring up in the second or third and appeared to be in too much pain by the fourth.

A two-run homer by Kenji Johjima put Seattle ahead 7-4 in the sixth, but an RBI single by Carlos Gonzalez and two-run double by Rob Bowen, both off Roy Corcoran, knotted the game up. Justin Thomas then surrendered the go-ahead single by Daric Barton in the eighth.